THE 


DEATH    MASK 


OF 


SHAKESPEARE 


BY 


J.  PARKER    NORRIS 


(one    hundred   and    fifty   copies    privately    reprinted   from   the   FEBRUARY 
NUMBER   OF    "  SHAKESPEARIANA") 


PHILADELPHIA 

FRANKLIN  PRINTING  HOUSE 

321  Chestnut  Street 

1884 


THE   KESSBLSTADT  PICTCRB. 


THE  DEATH    MASK. 

On  November  i8th,  1S41,  Count  and 
Canon  Francis  von  Kesselstadt  died  in  May- 
ence.  In  June,  1842,  the  jjaintings,  etc., 
belonging  to  this  nobleman  were  sold  at  auc- 
tion in  that  town.  Among  them  was  a  small 
picture,  painted  in  oil,  on  parchment,  repre- 
senting acorpse,  with  the  head  surrounded  by 
a  wreath,  lying  in  state  on  a  bed.  In  the 
background  is  a  burning  taper  and  the  date 
Ao  1637  in  gold  letters.  This  picture  was 
purchased  by  S.  Jourdan,an  antiquary,  living 
in  Mayence,  who  sold  it  in  1847  'o  Ludwig 
Becker.  The  latter  was  a  portrait  painter, 
and  lived  in  Darmstadt,  and  the  Grand  Duke 
of  Hesse  appointed  him  "Court  painter." 
In  1845  o""  1846  he  moved  to  Mayence. 
Here  he  saw  the  little  painting,  which  he 
purcha.sed  in  1847  from  Jourdan,  as  before 
stated. 

This  picture  is  said  to  have  been  in  the 
possession  of  the  Kes.selstadt  family  for  more 
than  a  century.  Francis  von  Kesselstadt  (of 
whose  estate  it  formed  part  when  sold  at  auc- 
tion in  1842)  was  a  collector  and  lover  of  pic- 
tures. He  owned  portraits  of  many  historical 
personages,  among  which  may  be  named 
those  of  Albrecht  von  Brandenburg,  (iustavus 
Adolphus,  Henry  IV,  Martin  Luther,  Me- 
lanchthon,.'Mbrecht  Diirer,  and  Martin  Schcin. 
He  also  had  a  number  of  portraits  of  cele- 
brated poets,  and,  among  the  latter,  this  little 
picture,    which   was   afterwards    bought    by 


Becker,  occupied  a  prominent  place,  bearing 
the  inscription  : 

"Traditionen  nach  Shakespeare." 
("According  to  tradition,  Shakespeare.") 

In  this  connection  it  is  only  proper  to  state 
that  Ludwig  Becker,  in  a  little  pamphlet  in 
which  he  gives  the  details  of  his  purchase, 
etc.,  of  this  portrait,  states  that  Count  and 
Canon  Francis  von  Kesselstadt  died  in  the 
year  1843;  but  the  date  given  above  as  the 
year  of  his  death  (1841)  is  that  stated  by 
Dr.  Herrmann  Schaaffhausen  in  his  article 
"  Ueber  die  Todtenmaske  Shakespeare's," 
published  in  the  Jahrbuch  of  the  German 
Shakespeare  Society  for  1875. 

Professor  N.  Miiller,  of  Mayence,  who 
knew  the  Count  and  Canon  Francis  von 
Kesselstadt  quite  well  from  1790,  wrote 
Becker  a  letter  dated  February  28th,  1847,  •" 
which  he  says  he  saw  this  picture  in  the 
Count's  collection,  and  that  he  knew  the 
Count  refused  "some  very  handsome  offers 
from  the  parties  anxious  to  become  pur- 
chasers" of  it,  and  that  it  was  always  re- 
ceived by  all  the  visitors  to  his  gallery  as  an 
authentic  portrait. of  Shakespeare. 

The  date  on  the  picture,  1637,  did  not 
correspond  with  the  year  in  which  Shake- 
speare died,  1 61 6,  and  Becker  formed  the 
idea  that  it  had  probably  been  copied  from 
some  older  one  or  from  a  cast  or  statue.  He 
subsequently   ascertained    that   a   plister-of- 


DEA  TH  MASK  OF  SHAKESPEARE. 


Paris  cast  of  a  face  had  also  formed  part  of 
the  Count's  collection,  but  that  on  the  sale  of 
his  effects  it  had  received  little  consideration, 
and  no  one  remembered  who  had  bought  it. 
Becker  was  not  discouraged,  however,  and 
in  1849,  two  years  after  he  had  purchased  the 
little  picture,  he  tells  us  he  found  the  Mask  he 
was  searching  for  in  Mayence,  "  in  a  broker's 
shop,  amongst  rags  and  articles  of  the  mean- 
est description." 


THE  DEATH  MASK. — FIG.  1. 


Becker  at  once  recognized  the  cast  from 
its  likeness  to  the  picture,  but  I  cannot  dis- 
cover any  resemblance.  Others,  however, 
have  pronounced  that  the  picture  has  evi- 
dently been  copied  from  the  Mask.  The 
excellent  engravings  of  the  picture  and  the 
Mask,  which  accompany  this  article,  were 
made  with  the  greatest  care  from  photo- 
graphs taken  from  the  originals,  and  will 
enable  the  reader  to  judge  of  the  resemblance 
said  to  exist  between  the  two. 

In  1849  Ludwig  Becker  went  to  England, 
taking  the  Mask  and  the  little  oil  painting 
with  him.  Here  they  were  examined  by  the 
authorities  of  the  British  Museum  and  by 
many  others.  In  1850  Becker  went  to  Mel- 
bourne, leaving  the  Mask  and  picture  in  the 
custody  of  Professor  Owen,  of  the  British 
Museum.  Becker  died  April  24th,  1861,  while 
on  an  expedition  across  the  Australian  conti- 
nent under  the  auspices  of  the  British  Gov- 
ernment. On  the  fact  of  his  death  becoming 
known  to  Professor  Owen,  the  lafter  returned 
the  Mask  and  picture  to  his  brothers,  and 
since  then  they  have  been  in  the  custody  of 
Dr.  Ernest  Becker,  of  Darmstadt. 

The  Mask  has  evidently  been  made  from  a 
dead  face.  It  is  of  plaster-of- Paris,  and  is  of 
a  dirty  yellow  color.  This  yellowish  appear- 
ance is  owing  to  the  oil  with  which  it  has 


been  covered,  and  which  has  soaked  into  it. 
This  oil  was  probably  rubbed  on  it  when  an- 
other copy  was  made  from  it,  and  would 
seem  to  indicate  that  it  has  been  used  to 
model  from.  Some  hairs  adhere  to  the  mous- 
tache and  the  beard  on  the  Mask,  and  also 
on  the  eyebrows  and  eyelashes.  These  hairs 
have  been  proven,  by  examination  with  the 
microscope,  to  be  human.  They  are  of  a 
reddish  brown  or  auburn  color,  and  corres- 
pond to  the  color  of  the  beard  and  hair  on 
the  Stratford  bust  and  the  description  of  its 
original  color  on  that  effigy.  With  regard  to 
this,  however,  it  is  only  proper  to  state  that 
the  hair  of  a  person  which  has  been  naturally 
of  a  dark  color  when  living  often  turns  to  a 
reddish  brown  on  being  cut  off  and  kept  for 
a  long  time.  This  is  probably  caused  by 
chemical  change  in  the  coloring  matter  in 
the  hair,  owing  to  want  of  the  nourish- 
ment which  it  received  when  growing. 

To  explain  how  these  hairs  became  affixed 
to  the  Mask,  it  will  be  necessary  to  say  a  few 
words  about  the  manner  in  which  masks  are 
made,  which  was  probably  employed  in  mak- 
ing this  one  also.  The  first  process  is  to 
make  an  impression  or  mould  of  the  face.  A 
band  of  cloth  is  placed  around  the  head  of 
the  person  whose  face  is  to  be  copied.  This 
band  encircles  the  head  about  where  the  ears 
are,  and  leaves  exposed  all  the  chin  and 
forehead — in  fact,  the  entire  face  in  front  of 
it.  Soft  wax  is  now  poured  over  the  face, 
and  is  kept  by  the  band  from  running  too 


^ 


THE  DEATH  MASK. — FIG.  2. 


far.  It  quickly  hardens,  and  is  easily  re- 
moved. The  eyebrows,  eyelashes,  mous- 
tache, and  beard  have  been  previously  greased 
or  covered  with  soap  and  water  to  prevent 
the  wax  from  adhering  to  the  hairs.  In  spite 
of  this  precaution,  however,  some  few  of  the 


DEATH  MASK  OF  SHAKESPEARE. 


hairs  will  adhere  to  the  wax  mould,  and  are 
pulled  out  of  the  skin  when  the  wax  is  re- 
moved. This  mould  is  now  an  exact  copy 
of  the  face  from  which  it  has  been  taken,  but, 
of  course,  it  is  the  opposite  of  a  human  face, 
for  where  the  protuberances  of  the  latter  are, 
they  are  represented  in  the  mould  by  corres- 
ponding indentations.  Among  sculptors  the 
result  of  this  process  is  known  as  a  "  flying 
mould." 


THE  DEATH  MASK. — PIC.  3. 

The  mould  is  then  oiled  and  filled  with 
liquid  plaster-of-Paris  or  wax.  When  this  is 
taken  out  of  the  mould,  a  perfect  cast  repre- 
senting each  detail  of  the  face  from  which  it 
was  taken  appears,  and  in  this  process  some 
of  the  hairs  which  had  adhered  to  the  mould 
are  transferred  to  the  cast.  Frequently  the 
mould  becomes  broken  in  making  a  cast,  and 
then  the  cast  has  to  be  oiled  to  make  another 
mould.  The  yellowish  appearance  of  the 
Death  Mask  would  indicate,  as  before  stated, 
that  it  had  been  used  to  produce  another 
mould.  A  cast  of  the  face  only  is  technically 
termed  a  "  mask." 

It  would  seem  probable  in  the  case  of  the 
Death  Mask  that  a  wax  mask  was  first  cast  in 
the  mould,  as  the  Mask  shows  a  slight  wave 
along  the  bridge  of  the  nose,  and  also  a  flat- 
tened surface,  where  the  pores  of  the  skin 
— which  are  everywhere  else  perceptible — are 
lost.  This  has  been  caused  by  some  pressure 
on  the  nose.  Had  the  pressure  been  exerted 
on  the  nose  of  the  dead  face  the  bones  of  the 
na.sal  organ  would  have  resisted  the  pressure, 
and  no  such  flatness  would  have  resulted  as 
api)ears  in  the  Death  Mask.  From  this  wax 
face  another  mould  was  probably  made,  and 
in  this  the  Death  Mask  was  (  ast. 

Now  let  us  trace  the  course  that  the  hairs 
adhering  to  the  Death  Mask  would  have  to 


take  if  this  theory  be  correct.  From  the 
dead  face  they  adhered  to  the  wax  "flying 
mould."  In  this  was  cast  a  wax  face  and 
they  adhered  to  this,  and  from  this  cast  an- 
other mould  was  made,  either  of  wax  or  plas- 
ter, which  retained  the  hairs.  In  this  mould 
the  Death  Mask  was  finally  cast,  and  these 
hairs  appear  in  it.  The  hairs  would  easily 
pass  from  one  to  the  other — from  mould  to 
mask,  and  vice  versa — as  no  precautions  were 
taken  to  prevent  them  from  doing  so. 

The  Death  Mask  is  in  a  fair  state  of  preser- 
vation. A  small  fragment  has  been  broken 
off  the  lower  right  side  of  the  nose.  Some 
persons  have  thought  that  this  was  caused  by 
a  portion  of  the  plaster  having  there  adhered 
to  the  mould  ;  but  the  shajie  of  the  damaged 
place  is  such  as  to  lead  to  the  conclusion  that 
it  was  the  result  of  a  knock  from  the  side.  On 
the  other  side  of  the  nose  there  are  indica- 
tions of  the  plaster  having  been  touched  with 
a  knife.  Lines  have  been  cut  in  the  mous- 
tache and  chin-beard  to  represent  the  hairs. 
.\  portion  of  the  left  upper  lip  has  been  acci- 
dentally removed  and  a  part  of  the  eyelashes 
of  the  left  eye  have  disappeared. 

Over  the  right  eyebrow  there  is  an  indenta- 
tion or  scar  on  the  forehead  of  the  Mask  ex- 
tending towards  the  right  side.  More  will  be 
said  about  this  hereafter. 

On  the  back  edge  of  the  Mask  there  has 
been  placed  the  inscription : 

t  A!   D-    1616. 


THE  DEATH  MASK.  —  Fin.  4. 

It  has  evidently  been  made  with  a  blunt 
stick  when  the  plaster  was  soft,  and  has  no 
apjx-arance  of  having  been  cut  afterwards.  If 
the  latter  had  been  the  case,  the  letters  would 
have  presented  a  sharper  aj)pearance  than 
they  do.     The  figures   are  similar  to  those 


DEATH  MASK  OF  SHAKESPEARE. 


used  at  the  date  inscribed  on  it,  and  there  is 
no  reason  to  suppose  that  they  were  put  there 
at  a  later  date. 

The  same  inscription  is  also  to  be  seen  on 
two  other  angles  in  the  interior  of  the  Mask. 
Here  they  have  not  been  touched  by  persons 
handling  the  cast,  and  they  are  in  a  better 
state  of  preservation  than  those  first  referred 
to,  which  are  more  exposed. 

The  surface  of  the  Mask  represents  the 
pores  of  the  skin  with  the  greatest  accuracy, 
and  the  incised  lines  which  appear  in  the 
moustache  and  chin  beard  are  those  which 
have  been  made  by  the  person  making  the 
Mask.  It  is  impossible  to  obtain  a  cast  of 
each  hair  as  in  life,  for  the  grease  and  plaster 
cause  them  to  stick  together,  and  it  is  usual 
to  cut  the  lines  in  the  cast  to  imitate  the  hair. 
This  must  not  be  supposed  to  detract  from 
the  evidence  that  it  is  a  cast  from  a  face,  and 
it  furnishes  no  argument  in  favor  of  the  Mask 
being  a  mere  work  of  art.  Indeed  the  skin 
surface  so  perfectly  exhibited  in  the  Mask 
forbids  any  such  idea. 

Regarding  the  question  whether  the  art  of 
making  masks  was  known  as  early  as  Shake- 
speare's time,  it  can  safely  be  answered  in  the 
affirmative.  As  far  back  as  the  time  of  Pliny 
(A.  D.  23)  masks  were  made.  In  his  Histo- 
ria  Naturalis,  published  about  A.  D.  77,  he 
states  that  the  first  person  who  made  a  plaster 
mould  of  a  human  face,  from  which  a  cast 
was  subsequently  made,  was  Lysistratus  of 
Sicyon  (321  B.  C).  It  is  true  that  Pliny 
does  not  state  that  the  mould  was  taken  from 
a  dead  face ;  but  if  they  were  able  to  take 
them  from  the  living,  it  would  be  easier  to 
make  the  impression  from  the  dead. 

The  passage  from  Pliny's  Hisforia  Natu- 
ralis, Lib.  XXXV,  44,  is  as  follows  : 

"  Hominis  autem  imaginem  gypso  e  facie 
ipsa  primus  omnium  expressit,  ceraque  in 
eam  formam  gypsi  infusa  emendare  instituit 
Lysistratus  Sicyonius,  frater  Lysippi,  de  quo 
diximus.  Hie  et  similitudinem  reddere  in- 
stituit :  ante  eum  quam  pulcherrimas  facere 
studebant.  Idem  et  de  signis  effigiem  expri- 
mere  invenit.  Crevitque  res  in  tantum,  ut 
nulla  signa,  statuKve,  sine  argilla  fierent. 
Quo  apparet,  antiquiorem  banc  fuisse  scien- 
tiam,  quam  fundendi  aeris." 

A  mask  of  Martin  Luther  is  in  existence. 
He  died  at  Eisleben  in  1546.  Another 
one  of  Tasso,  who  died  in  1595,  is  also  ex- 
tant. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  many  of  the 
figures  in  the  old  monuments  in  existence  in 
England  have  probably  been  modelled  from 
casts  made  from  moulds  taken  from  the  faces 
of  those  that  they  represent,  and  the  placid 
expression  of  their  faces  would  seem  to  sup- 


port this  theory.  If  this  be  so  there  must 
have  been  men  in  England  who  understood 
how  to  make  a  mould  from  a  dead  face.  Wax 
was,  also,  sometimes  used,  and  casts  of  the 
faces  of  celebrated  persons  were  frequently 
colored  and  used  on  lay  figures.  These  were 
dressed  in  the  garments  worn  by  the  deceased 
in  life,  and  doubtless  many  who  saw  them 
lying  in  state  believed  them  to  be  the  corpses 
themselves.  In  the  Chapel  of  St.  Erasmus, 
Westminster  Abbey,  in  an  old  closet,  many  of 
these  lay  figures  may  still  be  seen.  In  an  ac- 
count of  the  Abbey,  published  in  1754,  it  is 
stated  that  "these  effigies  resembled  the  de- 
ceased as  nearly  as  possible,  and  were  wont  to 
be  exposed  at  the  funerals  of  our  princes,  and 
other  great  personages  in  open  chariots,  with 
their  proper  ensigns  of  royalty  or  honor  ap- 
pended." The  same  account  states  that  the 
effigy  of  King  Edward  VI  was  originally 
clothed  in  crimson  velvet  robes,  but  time  had 
made  these  resemble  leather;  but  that  those 
of  Queen  Elizabeth  and  King  James  I  were 
stripped  of  everything  of  value.  The  effigies 
of  King  William,  Queen  Mary,  and  Queen 
Anne  are  handsomely  dressed  in  lace  and 
velvet.  Here,  also,  was  Nelson's  figure,  and 
Cromwell  was  here. 

The  mould  from  which  Cromwell's  face  was 
cast  was  afterwards  found. 

The  above  instances  fully  establish  the  fre- 
quency of  making  masks  of  the  dead.  It 
now  remains  to  inquire  if  the  mask  said  to 
be  that  of  Shakespeare  really  is  his.  In  the 
first  place,  the  theory  relied  on  to  account 
for  the  possession  of  a  mask  of  Shakespeare 
by  Count  and  Canon  von  Kesselstadt  is 
utterly  without  facts  to  sustain  it. 

A  mould  is  thought  to  have  been  taken  from 
Shakespeare's  face  after  death  for  the  pur- 
pose of  making  the  Stratford  bust,  and  it 
was  supposed  to  have  been  afterwards  sent  to 
London  to  Gerard  Johnson  or  to  his  son,  one 
of  whom  was  the  sculptor  of  the  bust.  A  cast 
from  this  mould  having  been  made,  one  of  the 
ancestors  of  Count  Francis  von  Kesselstadt  is 
there  supposed  to  have  seen  it,  and,  after  it 
had  served  its  purpose,  purchased  it  from  the 
sculptor.  It  then  remained  in  his  family,  and 
finally  descended  to  Count  Francis  von  Kes- 
selstadt. This  is,  of  course,  pure  theory 
without  anything  to  sustain  it.  None  of  the 
Kesselstadt  family  are  known  to  have  gone  to 
England,  though  they  might  have  done  so 
without  any  record  of  their  journey  having 
been  preserved.  Then,  again,  how  is  the  pic- 
ture of  the  man  on  his  death-bed  to  be  ac- 
counted for?  Some  people  have  supposed 
that  the  date  on  it,  1637,  refers  to  the  time 
when  it  was  copied  from  the  cast,  but  I  do 
not  think  the  picture  represents  the  same  per- 


DEATH  MASK  OF  SHAKESPEARE. 


son  as  the  Mask,  and  am  in  favor  of  agreeing 
with  those  who  regard  it  as  a  portrait  of  Ben 
Jonson.  It  is  said  to  strongly  resemble  the 
portrait  of  the  latter  at  Dulwich  College. 
1637  is  the  year  Ben  Jonson  died,  and  it 
probably  represents  him  lying  in  state.  If 
the  ancestor  of  Count  von  Kesselstadt  ob- 
tained a  cast  of  Shakespeare's  face  while  in 
England,  he  might  also  have  purchased  this 
portrait  of  Ben  Jonson.  It  is  true  that  Pro- 
fessor Muller  states  that  it  had  the  inscription 
under  it  that,  according  to  tradition,  it  was 
Shakespeare,  but  might  not  this  inscription 
have  been  under  the  Mask  when  they  both 
hung  in  the  same  collection,  and  Professor 
Miiller  have  confounded  the  two? 

Such  is  the  history  of  the  Death  Mask,  and 
that  most  careful  and  learned  writer.  Dr.  C. 
M.  Ingleby,  in  his  chapter  on  "The  Por- 
traiture of  Shakespeare."  published  in  Part  I 
of  his  Shakespeare  :  The  Man  and  the  Book, 
4to,  London:  1877,  p.  84,  says  of  it:  "I 
must  candidly  say  I  am  not  able  to  spot  a 
single  suspicious  fact  in  the  brief  history  of 
this  most  curious  relic." 

Professor  Owen,  of  the  British  Museum, 
stated  that  if  the  fact  that  the  Mask  originally 
came  from  England  could  be  satisfactorily 
established,  there  was  hardly  any  price  that 
the  Museum  would  have  hesitated  to  pay  for 
it.  It  is  said  that  ten  thousand  pounds  was 
the  sum  Becker  asked  for  it. 

Regarding  the  indentation  over  the  right 
eyebrow,  which  has  been  referred  to  above. 
Professor  John  S.  Hart,  who  saw  the  Mask  in 
Darmstadt,  wrote  that  it  was  "  merely  a  flake 
of  the  plaster  fallen  or  rubbed  off."  William 
Page  subsequently  went  to  Darmstadt  spe- 
cially to  examine  the  Death  Mask.  He  says, 
concerning  this  indentation  (A  Study  of 
Shakespeare' s  Portraits,  48mo,  London  : 
1876,  p.  59):  "From  the  photographs,  I 
knew  there  must  be  some  indentation  and 
a  loss  of  the  texture  of  the  skin  in  this  dis- 
colored place,  which,  for  some  reason,  had 
received  the  colored  wa.sh  thus  unequally. 
My  first  attempt  to  take  an  impression  of 
this  spot,  together  with  a  part  of  the  fore- 
head, failed,  having  tried  it  in  soft  modelling 
wax,  which  adhered  somewhat  and  was  dis- 
torted and  lost  in  removing ;  but  the  depres- 
sion in  the  spot  wxs  well  shown  in  the  relief 
of  the  wax  at  that  point.  My  next  attempt 
was  in  white,  harder  wax,  with  gauze  inter- 
vening. This  mould,  though  less  delicate  in 
parts,  was  very  successful,  and  gave  me  a 
good  cxst  in  jjlaster ;  where  the  indentation 
is  plainly  visible,  it  may,  perhaps,  have  been 
looked  on  as  a  defect,  and  has  certainly  been 
partially  filled  up.  In  the  plain  white  of 
plaster   the   depression    is  still   to   be  seen, 


though  in  the  discolored  spot  over  the  brow 
I  could  not  at  first  detect  it." 

Mr.  Page  also  made  twenty-six  measures 
from  the  Death  M;isk,  which  he  afterwards 
compared  with  the  Stratford  bust.  On  page 
48  of  the  above-quoted  book  he  says:  "Of 
these  twenty-six  measures,  at  least  ten  or 
twelve  fit  exactly  corresponding  points  in  the 
Stratford  bust,  which  any  one  may  verify  if 
he  will  take  the  trouble  to  interpret  the  dia- 
gram here  annexed  and  reduce  all  the  meas- 
urements to  solid  geometry.  Few  persons 
need  be  told  that  this  planet  never  did,  at 
any  one  moment,  contain  two  adult  heads, 
whose  faces  agreed  in  any  dozen  like  meas- 
ures, and  the  law  of  probabilities  makes  it 
remote  when  such  an  epoch  will  arrive.  To 
a  working  artist's  mind,  the  agreement  of 
these  measures  is  either  a  miracle,  or  demon- 
stration that  they  are  from  the  same  face. 

"  And,  still  further,  the  failure  or  misfit  of 
the  other  more  than  dozen  measures  is  con- 
fined to  those  parts  of  the  face  where  there  is 
acknowledged  error  on  the  part  of  the  sculp- 
tor of  the  Stratford  bust.  In  the  language  of 
science,  '  measures  are  the  inflexible  judges 
placed  above  all  opinions  supported  only  by 
imperfect  observations.' 

"  It  is,  indeed,  singular  that  such  an  agree- 
ment in  measure  with  the  Stratford  bust 
should  not  have  been  noted  or  published  by 
the  distinguished  scholars  and  scientists  in 
whose  care  the  Mask  was  during  its  sojourn  in 
England;  but  so  far  as  I  know,  it  has  not 
hitherto  been  done." 

Friswell  {Life  Portraits  of  William  Shake- 
speare, 4to,  London:  1864,  p.  17)  thus 
compares  the  Death  Mask  and  the  Stratford 
bust:  "The  Mask  has  a  short  upper  lip,  the 
bust  a  very  long  one;  but  this  discrepancy  is 
accounted  for  on  the  supposition  that  the 
sculi)tor  had  an  accident  with  the  nose.  The 
nostrils  are  drawn  up,  almost  painfully;  the 
same  is  visible  in  the  bust.  There  are  several 
other  points  of  resemblance,  but  these  are 
very  minute. 

"  On  the  other  hand,  the  cast  diflers  very 
widely  from  the  bust  said  to  have  been  cut 
from  it.  The  nose  is  utterly  unlike;  in  the 
cast  it  is  a  fine,  thin,  aquiline  nose,  and,  as 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  cast  is  from  a 
dead  face,  one  feels  irresistibly  the  force  of 
Mrs.  Quickly's  simile  in  the  much-contested 
quotation,  as  altered  by,  Mr.  Collier's  'old 
corrector;' 

"'  His  nose  was  as  sharp  as  a  pen  on  a  table  of  green 
frieze.' 

"  The  face  is  a  sharp  oval,  that  of  the  bust 
is  a  blunt  one;  the  chin  is  narrow  and  pointed, 
that  of  the  bust   rounded   or  rather  square, 


DEATH  MASK  OF  SHAKESPEARE. 


and  full  of  force;  the  cheeks  are  thin  and 
drawn  in,  those  of  the  bust  full,  fat,  and 
almost  coarse.  Exception  has  also  been  taken 
to  the  age  of  the  person  expressed  in  this  cast, 
some  asserting  that  it  is  too  young  in  look 
for  the  years  of  our  poet  at  his  death.  But 
here  we  are  in  favor  of  the  cast.  Some  time 
after  death  the  skin  seems  to  relax,  the 
wrinkles  to  fill  out,  and  the  expression  of 
care  becomes  one  of  quietude  and  peace. 
There  are,  moreover,  plenty  of  indications 
of  '  crow's  feet '  and  wrinkles  at  the  corners  of 
the  eyes;  and  the  face,  while  it  wants  utterly 
the  jovial  look  of  the  bust,  is  certainly  one  of 


we  may  cite  the  cast  from  the  features  of  Na- 
poleon the  Great  preserved  in  the  Invalides. 
Looking  at  it,  with  its  drawn  face  and 
sharpened  nose,  one  would  rather  think  it  a 
mask  of  the  fine,  thin  features  of  Voltaire, 
than  of  the  round  and  massive  head  of  the 
conqueror  Napoleon  I." 

Some  years  ago  W.  J.  Thorns  suggested 
that  the  Death  Mask  might  be  that  of  Cer- 
vantes, the  author  of  Don  Quixote,  who  died 
in  Madrid  in  1616.  He  further  added  that 
the  features  of  the  Mask  resembled  the  pic- 
tures of  Cervantes  more  than  Shakespeare. 

The  portraits  of  Cervantes  which  are  extant 


i  HED  BY  WM.  PAGE. 


a  person  who  might   have  suffered,  thought, 
and  felt.         ****** 

"  Lastly,  it  may  be  noted  in  regard  to  the 
Mask  of  the  face  in  the  custody  of  Professor 
Owen,  that  the  extreme  thinness  of  the  nose 
and  of  the  cheeks  does  not  so  much  militate 
against  its  genuineness  as  one  wouid  suppose. 
The  features  alter  extremely  after  death  with 
most  persons  ;  and  although  Shakespeare  is 
said  to  have  died  after  a  very  short  illness,  he 
may  have  lost  much  flesh.  The  '  tombe 
maker,'  wishing  to  exhibit  him  ad  vivum, 
would  alter  this.  As  a  parallel  instance  of 
extreme  difference  between  life  and  death. 


are  all  founded  on  a  description  of  his  appear- 
ance given  by  the  author  of  Don  Quixote 
himself.  He  describes  himself  as  having  a 
long  face,  chestnut-brown  hair,  silver-gray 
beard,  which  was  originally  of  a  golden  color; 
a  smooth,  open  brow,  a  clear  eye  with  ani- 
mated expression,  a  well-formed,  aquiline 
nose,  very  small  mouth,  defective  teeth,  a 
dark  complexion,  and  medium  height. 

From  this  description  artists  have  con- 
structed portraits  of  Cervantes,  but  no  picture 
or  engraving  of  him  has  any  other  authority 
for  its  foundation. 

Cervantes  died  in  the  greatest  poverty  and 


DEATH  MASK  OF  SHAKESPEARE. 


his  burial  was  of  the  plainest  description. 
No  ceremony  of  any  kind  is  known  to  have 
been  observed.  No  tombstone  was  erected 
over  his  grave.  In  view  of  such  facts  a.s  these, 
is  it  at  all  probable  that  any  one  should  have 
conceived  the  idea  of  making  a  mask  from 
his  face  ? 

Another  fact  in  relation  to  this  matter  re- 
mains to  be  stated.  Cervantes  was  born  in 
1547  and  did  not  die  until  1616.  He  was 
therefore  sixty-eight  years  old  at  the  time  of 
his  death.  The  latter  was  caused  by  dropsy. 
Now  the  Death  Mask  resembles  the  face  of  a 
man  of  fifty-two,  which   was   Shakespeare's 


he  decided  to  make  a  colossal  mask  in  plaster. 
This  he  did,  and  in  another  one  of  similar 
size  he  restored  the  small  portions  missing  in 
the  original  Death  Mask.  In  August,  1874, 
he  went  to  Darmstadt  especially  to  see  the 
Mask.  Dr.  Becker  gave  him  the  fullest  facili- 
ties for  examining  it,  and  permitted  him  to 
take  photograi)hs  of  it,  to  make  accurate 
measurements  with  calipers,  and  to  make  im- 
pressions from  portions  of  it.  On  his  return 
to  New  York  he  made  a  life-sized  bust  in 
plaster,  from  which  a  bronze  casting  was 
finally  made. 

This  bust  is  very  handsome,  and  is  a  faith- 


TlIK  UEATIt 


age,  much  more  nearly  than  sixty-eight,  and 
no  one  for  an  instant  will  think  that  it  has 
any  reseml)lance  to  the  face  of  one  who  died 
of  dropsy — where  the  features  are  much 
swollen. 

Mr.  Page  always  had  the  greatest  faith  in 
the  Death  Mask.  He  desired  to  paint  a  por- 
trait of  Shakespeare,  and  decided  to  adopt 
the  Mask  as  the  basis  of  his  work,  using  also 
the  Stratford  bust,  the  Droeshout  engraving, 
and  the  Chandos  portrait.  He  first  obtained 
thirteen  photographs  representing  the  Ma.sk 
from  different  points  of  view.  l""rom  these  he 
made  two  clay  masks  of  life  size,  but  finally 


ful  rendering  of  the  Mask.  It  is  of  the  head 
and  shoulders  only.  Looking  at  it  from  the 
front,  one  sees  how  strong  the  likeness  is  to 
the  Stratford  bust.  The  opening  of  the  eyes 
by  Mr.  Page,  and  giving  the  face  an  air  of 
life,  instead  of  the  painfully  sad  expression 
shown  in  the  Death  Mask,  of  course  h;is  much 
to  do  with  this;  but  let  any  unprejudiced  and 
competent  critic  place  this  bust  alongside  ot 
a  gray  cast  of  the  Stratford  bust  and  he  will 
be  stru<  k  with  the  resemljlanre  between  them. 
The  chief  points  of  difference  are  the  short 
nose  of  the  Stratford  bust  as  com])ared  with 
the  longer  one  of  Page's  bust,  and  the  more 


DEATH  MASK  OF  SHAKESPEARE. 


receding  forehead  of  the  latter  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  prominent  one  of  the  Stratford 
bust. 

A  beautiful  crayon  drawing  of  Page's  bust, 
representing  the  full-face  view,  was  made,  I 
believe,  by  the  artist  himself,  and  the  few 
photographs  of  this  which  were  taken  are 
treasured  by  their  fortunate  possessors. 

Numerous  photographs  of  this  bust  have 
also  been  taken  by  Sarony,  some  of  which  do 
not  do  it  justice. 

Mr.  Page  also  painted  a  three-quarter 
length  portrait  from  the  Death  Mask,  which 
has  met  with  some  unfavorable  criticism,  and 
which  is  certainly  not  as  fine  as  his  bust.  The 
poet  is  represented  as  having  risen  from  a 
chair,  and  is  standing  by  a  table,  on  which 
he  rests  his  left  hand.  In  his  right  hand  he 
holds  a  book,  which  he  has  been  reading,  but 
has  looked  down  as  if  in  thought.  This 
shows  the  eyelids  drooping,  and  gives  the 
face  a  somewhat  sleepy  expression.  A  large 
photograph  from  this  picture,  by  W.  Kurtz, 


was  published  in  1S75  '"^y  Louis  Menger,  New 
York. 

J.  Niessen  drew  a  crayon  portrait  of  the 
Death  Mask,  bringing  it  to  life  as  Page  did, 
but  unlike  the  latter  he  confined  himself  to 
the  Mask  alone.  Niessen's  drawing  e.xhibits 
a  three-quarter  face,  and  has  a  very  animated 
expression.  Its  chief  fault  is  in  the  too  great 
prominence  of  the  chin.  Several  excellent 
photographs  of  it  have  been  published,  and 
some  of  the  larger  ones  are  strikingly  hand- 
some. They  were  published  by  Stroefer  & 
Kirchner,  New  York. 

Of  the  Death  Mask  itself  numerous  photo- 
graphs have  been  taken,  representing  it  in 
many  positions.  The  best  are  those  taken  by 
Page,  two  of  which,  carefully  engraved  on 
wood,  are  given  herewith.  The  four  smaller 
wood  engravings  are  from  photographs  which 
were  published  in  IJber  Kunst/er  und  Kunst- 
werke,  8vo,  Berlin  :  1867,  accompanying  an 
article  on  the  Death  Mask  by  Hermann 
Grimm. 


y-  \/%^i^^7<^^  /i. 


^^'^T-yt^ 


Q  I. 


OUIIIU    UUI  UUI  u 


STACK  COLLECTION 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW. 


30m-8,'65(F644784)9482 


G' 


f*MPHirr  IINDE* 

Syrocuie,  N.    Y. 

^S    Stockton.  Collf. 


3  1205  03058  9947 


\:-:/  '■•;'//■'  .;--^,:^i5»i^  j^-V^ 


